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blogcutterPART I: WHILE OUR OIL TANK GENTLY WEEPS
As hard as it may be to remember now, we did have some quite chilly nights and mornings this year during the month of May. On one such morning, I got up, turned up the thermostat, and ... nothing. The furnace did not come on.
It could have been worse, of course. It wasn't the polar-bear days of January and there was no danger that our pipes would freeze. And luckily, we were still covered by an annual Furnace Protection Plan, lasting from June 1 2024 to May 31, 2025.
So we called in a service technician. In pretty short order, he got the furnace working again and we had the level of heat we wanted, at no charge.
On the other hand, he informed us that our aging oil tank was starting to "weep". Clearly it's not outright sobbing, as the tank, even more than three months later, still appears to be about half full (or half empty, depending on your point of view) and the empty/full indicator has not noticeably shifted since that day, nor do we have a pool of oil under the tank. So he red-tagged the tank and informed us that the furnace would need to be replaced before the next heating season started.
All of which gave us the impetus we needed to (further) look into getting a heat pump. And gave rise to several more processes, involving research, seasoned with a healthy measure of bureaucratic red tape.
We brought in four different contractors to provide estimates. The first was from the same company that fixed the furnace. It was very cursory, however, although they did encourage us to apply for a Greener Homes Grant, advice that has definitely paid off.
The second was from a large company that offered both HVAC and plumbing services. I mainly chose them because we were also having some plumbing problems at the time, involving water in the laundry room and some issues with turning the water on to the outside at the beginning of gardening season. To make a long story short, we were very satisfied with how they resolved our plumbing issues but rather less than satisfied with the representative they sent to consult about heat pumps. I found him to be quite patronizing which for me at least (having been the youngest child in my family) is already a serious turnoff. He asked right off the bat, "What's your budget for this?" and "Do you know what you're getting yourselves in for?" and proceeded to tell us about how he had gone to service other sites where customers had installed systems which he considered to be completely the wrong thing or the wrong size or the wrong something-else. He did get back to us with quite a detailed quote for the one configuration he recommended for us - and then rather persistently kept phoning back and leaving messages up until we were able to inform him (truthfully) that we had now chosen the company we wanted and it wasn't them.
As for contractors nos. 3 and 4, they each offered three quotes for possible heat pump/air handler configurations. Both were locally based companies and I think either one of them could have done a competent job of providing what we needed. What clinched it for me, however, was how well the representative from company no. 4 explained things and how receptive he was to our questions and concerns. So for us it was 4th time lucky.
So I put in an application to the government's Oil to Heat Pump Affordability program (OHPA), which spawned some more frustrating red tape, involving uploading proof of home ownership, bills for heating oil from the most recent heating season, proof of identity, the quote from the contractor and probably some other stuff I'm forgetting. There was some to-ing and fro-ing with the OHPA people regarding what documents were and weren't acceptable, which took up more of my time and life than I really wanted to spend ... but then success, in the form of a grant cheque arrived. We'll still have to submit receipts and stuff after the fact and it's possible someone will still need to come over and inspect the final set-up, but that's at least one major hurdle behind us.
Next week, we've got an electrician coming in to upgrade us to 200 amp service. Then hopefully we can get all the heat pump work done during the month of August. None too soon, as our air conditioner packed it in a couple of days ago.
Stay tuned for more exciting episodes in The Summer of Our Discontent, in which I outline how we were without satellite TV for a couple of weeks and lost all our internet and home phone service for a few days ...
and much, much more!!!
As hard as it may be to remember now, we did have some quite chilly nights and mornings this year during the month of May. On one such morning, I got up, turned up the thermostat, and ... nothing. The furnace did not come on.
It could have been worse, of course. It wasn't the polar-bear days of January and there was no danger that our pipes would freeze. And luckily, we were still covered by an annual Furnace Protection Plan, lasting from June 1 2024 to May 31, 2025.
So we called in a service technician. In pretty short order, he got the furnace working again and we had the level of heat we wanted, at no charge.
On the other hand, he informed us that our aging oil tank was starting to "weep". Clearly it's not outright sobbing, as the tank, even more than three months later, still appears to be about half full (or half empty, depending on your point of view) and the empty/full indicator has not noticeably shifted since that day, nor do we have a pool of oil under the tank. So he red-tagged the tank and informed us that the furnace would need to be replaced before the next heating season started.
All of which gave us the impetus we needed to (further) look into getting a heat pump. And gave rise to several more processes, involving research, seasoned with a healthy measure of bureaucratic red tape.
We brought in four different contractors to provide estimates. The first was from the same company that fixed the furnace. It was very cursory, however, although they did encourage us to apply for a Greener Homes Grant, advice that has definitely paid off.
The second was from a large company that offered both HVAC and plumbing services. I mainly chose them because we were also having some plumbing problems at the time, involving water in the laundry room and some issues with turning the water on to the outside at the beginning of gardening season. To make a long story short, we were very satisfied with how they resolved our plumbing issues but rather less than satisfied with the representative they sent to consult about heat pumps. I found him to be quite patronizing which for me at least (having been the youngest child in my family) is already a serious turnoff. He asked right off the bat, "What's your budget for this?" and "Do you know what you're getting yourselves in for?" and proceeded to tell us about how he had gone to service other sites where customers had installed systems which he considered to be completely the wrong thing or the wrong size or the wrong something-else. He did get back to us with quite a detailed quote for the one configuration he recommended for us - and then rather persistently kept phoning back and leaving messages up until we were able to inform him (truthfully) that we had now chosen the company we wanted and it wasn't them.
As for contractors nos. 3 and 4, they each offered three quotes for possible heat pump/air handler configurations. Both were locally based companies and I think either one of them could have done a competent job of providing what we needed. What clinched it for me, however, was how well the representative from company no. 4 explained things and how receptive he was to our questions and concerns. So for us it was 4th time lucky.
So I put in an application to the government's Oil to Heat Pump Affordability program (OHPA), which spawned some more frustrating red tape, involving uploading proof of home ownership, bills for heating oil from the most recent heating season, proof of identity, the quote from the contractor and probably some other stuff I'm forgetting. There was some to-ing and fro-ing with the OHPA people regarding what documents were and weren't acceptable, which took up more of my time and life than I really wanted to spend ... but then success, in the form of a grant cheque arrived. We'll still have to submit receipts and stuff after the fact and it's possible someone will still need to come over and inspect the final set-up, but that's at least one major hurdle behind us.
Next week, we've got an electrician coming in to upgrade us to 200 amp service. Then hopefully we can get all the heat pump work done during the month of August. None too soon, as our air conditioner packed it in a couple of days ago.
Stay tuned for more exciting episodes in The Summer of Our Discontent, in which I outline how we were without satellite TV for a couple of weeks and lost all our internet and home phone service for a few days ...
and much, much more!!!
(no subject)
Date: 2025-07-27 12:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-07-27 01:34 pm (UTC)When did you get yours done? Are you generally happy with it?
(no subject)
Date: 2025-07-27 02:50 pm (UTC)https://armiphlage.dreamwidth.org/640392.html
https://armiphlage.dreamwidth.org/635461.html
(no subject)
Date: 2025-07-27 12:45 pm (UTC)